standup

I made a choice a few years ago to not be political online. There are plenty of reasons for that which I won’t go into, but every once in a while I highlight shows and films on the streaming guide I think are important. This week I chose Chasing Coral which premiered at Sundance, and is about the attempt to visually capture coral bleaching, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. I haven’t seen Bigelow’s films because I’m not very into war as a genre, but she’s also the only female director to have won the Oscar for Best Directing. That surprises me, but also it doesn’t. Aditi Mittal is one of the first women to perform stand-up comedy in India, another thing I didn’t know.

As for my other choices, Broad City and Game of Thrones are two of my favourite shows. Broad City deserves a highlight for that fantastic DMV episode (I renewed my licence last week, which you can now do at the post office. It’s the Australian equivalent of making an appointment), and there’s no season like GoT season. My podcasts are coming back, and I’m figuring out how to deal with this strange book/show world we live in. I’m happy that A Storm of Spoilers has a separate section for production spoilers, and stopping the podcast early is going to be an exercise in self-control. At the time I’m writing, George hasn’t followed up on this possibly fortuitous Live Journal entry, so that’s something to watch. I’m also going to be keeping an eye on any possible #BlackThorn evidence. Let me know if you find anything.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is coming to Netflix ANZ. ABOUT TIME. Hi Netflix, it deserves better than to be dropped on New Year’s Eve. On the other hand, it’s a show about a woman who is trying to make a change in her life and is just weird enough to be great New Year’s Day viewing. Plus the songs are great, and I’m working on a piece about them just now. Sherlock is back on Monday too, so it will be the only thing the internet talks about for a few weeks. It’s still a good show, but I don’t like it as much as I used to. In short: I am very much a Sherlock hipster.

I decided to make this week’s streaming guide short, so the one thing I didn’t end up highlighting that I might have otherwise is the first season of The Shannara Chronicles which drops on Netflix January 5. I’ve definitely seen one episode, possibly two. They were a bit rough, and I lost track after that, but I’m interested to see how the first season ended. Netflix is also fast-tracking the second season of Shadowhunters, which starts January 3. The way time zones work means that these dates for Shadowhunters and Sherlock are a day later than in their original broadcast countries – I watch Game of Thrones on a Monday morning.

I’d never heard of Ivan Aristeguieta until earlier this year, when he was featured on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala. The below bit about Bunnings sausage sizzles is hilarious, and spot on. I expect that Lost in Pronunciation will have similar insights into Australian culture, and I’m really looking forward to it.

There’s a lot of new content on Australian streaming services this week, and if you ever wanted to check out a free trial of Presto, now’s the perfect time to do it. In addition to the first season of Empire, the show that was the rare hit and kept building its audience after its premiere, seasons four and five of The Good Wife are dropping on Presto this Sunday (coincidentally my birthday). Seasons four and five of The Good Wife include the best stretch of episodes in the series’ run, from “Red Team, Blue Team” well into season five. Also dropping on Presto this Sunday: 48 films. Yes, I counted them. Stan has an Amy Schumer stand-up special and Lawrence Leung’s Choose Your Own Adventure, while Netflix has two original productions in Ricky Gervais’ Special Correspondents and true crime documentary Team Foxcatcher dropping later today. The Netflix production I’m most excited about is Marseille, the first original French language show on the streaming service, all of which drops on Thursday. There’s a lot of good content this week.

Because the television season is mostly over in the United States, I was at a bit of a loss on what to write today, I’m still figuring things out. I thought about the most recent episode of Game of Thrones, but Joanna Robinson has pretty much articulated my thoughts on the topic over at Vanity Fair, and on A Cast of Kings. The backlash she’s gotten over her thoughtful and articulated commentary on one of her favourite shows is completely unfair, and I may end up writing something later, I just haven’t decided yet. The other thought I had was to write about tonight’s episode of MasterChef Australia, which was really good (there’ll be a bit on it here, but not a whole post), so I’ve decided to leave some thoughts on what I’ve been watching on streaming and DVD recently. Continue reading →